Bisping says technique to blame for power outage, eyes Silva rematch, title in 2010

LAS VEGAS – At this point in his UFC career, British middleweight striker Michael Bisping (19-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) has heard it all.

The boos that greet him during his U.S. fights are second nature. The questions of whether or not he can handle himself in the grappling department are redundant.

And of course, there’s his favorite question: Why can’t you knock anybody out?

After a one-sided unanimous-decision win over submission ace Dan Miller at Saturday’s UFC 114 event in Las Vegas, Bisping addressed those concerns while also laying out his plans for the immediate future.

“I wanted to finish my opponent tonight, but it was very tough, obviously,” Bisping said. “Wanting to finish him is one thing, but actually doing it is entirely different.

“He was very tough, very durable. I hit him with some big shots, but he was hungry; he wanted to win bad, and he hung in there.”

Indeed, Bisping did land an astounding array of stiff jabs and straight right hands throughout the 15-minute affair. But while Bisping credited Miller’s granite chin for prolonging the contest, “The Count” did admit there were some changes he could make to his own technique.

“If you speak to my Thai coach, my boxing coach and my sparring partners, believe me, I hit with power,” Bisping told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I haven’t been getting knockouts lately. I think what it came down to is I fought a lot of wrestlers back to back. … I think subconsciously, I started fighting on my back foot. I’m so worried about the takedown, and obviously U.K. guys don’t wrestle in college and things like that, so I was subconsciously starting to fight on the back foot. Obviously doing that, you don’t generate the same kind of power, so I have to retrain myself not to do that and to move forward – to plant my feet and move forward.

“I had hoped to knock [Miller] out tonight or get the TKO or stoppage, but he’s very durable. I hit him with some great shots, but he stood right in there.”

A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, Miller made little attempt to get the fight to the ground during the contest. But the British slugger, who parried a shot in the second and sprung immediately back to his feet after a successful attempt in the third, believes it’s unfair to not credit him for frustrating Miller into shying away from his strengths.

“I thought [Miller] was trying to lull me into a false sense of security,” Bisping said. “At the end of the first round, I actually commented to my cornermen that this time he’s going to come out and shoot in the second round. I do think part of that was due to my footwork. I was staying out of range of the takedowns, constantly changing my angles. If you’re going to plant your feet and stand in front of your opponent, they’re going to shoot on you. I wasn’t giving him the opportunity to do that.

“In terms of jiu-jitsu, everybody seems to think they’re going to submit me, but I’ve done jiu-jitsu for years. I went to the world championships in New Zealand when I was 16 years old. People don’t know these things. I just prefer to punch people.”

Bisping has been a bit of a villain throughout his tenure with the UFC. His debut on “The Ultimate Fighter 3″ set the tone, and his return as a coach on the ninth season of the reality series further cemented that role.

And while Bisping is just 5-3 since opening his career 14-0, the 31-year-old takes exception to those that try to minimize his importance in the UFC’s 185-pound division.

“In terms of where I am, the only losses I’ve got on my record are to three former champions, legends of the sport,” Bisping said. “I still hold my head pretty high as to where I am in the middleweight division, but obviously I’ve got to keep gaining on the momentum. I feel I’m starting to mature as a mixed martial artist and come into my own skill-wise and confidence-wise.”

Bisping said the first step to building on the momentum established with the UFC 114 win is a rematch against the man who handed him his most recent loss.

“Wanderlei Silva said he wants a rematch, and I would love a rematch,” Bisping said.

But that’s just the start. Following another bout with “The Axe Murderer,” Bisping has lofty ambitions that he hopes will cement his place in UFC history.

“I want to keep building on this win, and hopefully toward the end of this year, early next year, get a title shot,” Bisping said. “I want to be the first Englishman to win a title. I was the first [Englishman] to win ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ first English main-eventer, and I will be the first English world champion.”

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